Over and Over

Daily writing prompt

What book could you read over and over again?

I wish I could say the book I would read (and have read) over and over was a high-brow book, like The Return of the King. I wish it was a staple of fantasy, something that would give me geek cred. But the book is as mass-market as any book selling at the grocery store, and it still captures me every time.

The novel is Origin in Death, by JD Robb. JD Robb (alternative pen name for Nora Roberts) writes futuristic crime novels. She’s written a lot of these, perhaps 40. Reading them is like eating popcorn — tasty, addictive, and a little more nutritious than you might think. Her protagonist is a police lieutenant, Eve Dallas, who runs the murder squad at Cop Central. She’s excellent at what she does, and she’s a bit curmudgeonly. She’s married to one of the richest men on earth, a former jewel thief who goes by the name of Roarke. Roarke, with his larcenous ways, makes a perfect partner in fighting crime.

The specific story, Origin in Death, involves a father-son pair of doctors who are killed within a day of each other. The murder trail leads to a network of underground hospital wards and a conspiracy to supply men with the perfect lover/wife. How the doctors manage this is part of the light science fiction that JD Robb trades in. There are twists to surprise, and a big chase scene at the end that made me wish for a version for the screen.

I read this novel now and again. It’s quick to get through, and I know all the plot twists. But it remains entertaining, and perhaps the best of JD Robb’s In Death series.

Pandora’s FedEx Package

I have a mystery box coming to me.

I found this out via a text from FedEx. One package to arrive on this Thursday before 5 PM. I love packages!

The problem is that I have no pending merchandise orders from anywhere. My husband doesn’t have any pending orders from anywhere. And, as far as I know, the cats don’t have any pending orders from anywhere.

In examining the FedEx text, I can discern the following: The package originated in Berlin, CT. The shipping path began in Northborough, MA. The package’s dimensions are 20x12x4, and it weighs 4.2 lbs. It has been in package jail in Odessa, MO for two days.

What can I deduce? I’m failing. My fantasy life has many guesses:

A present from family? (From Berlin, CT? I have no family there.)
A marked-up copy of my novel with a book offer? (I’m pretty much sure that’s not how it’s done.)
A package bomb? (By FedEx? Highly unlikely).
A sweepstakes prize? (“Here’s a grocery sack with our logo!”)
An inheritance from a long-lost relative? (“Here’s a grocery sack with a logo!)

I will know soon. It will likely be something I ordered six months ago that I can’t remember. But I can dream, can’t I?

Short Essay: Through the Years

“Through the years, we all will be together

if the Fates allow – “

I have spent Christmas surrounded by family, sitting in Santa’s lap as a young child. I have spent Christmas stirring gravy for the Friends of Christmas holiday meal for those alone or suffering. I have spent Christmas musing about some fellow I’d developed a crush on. I’ve spent Christmas estranged from family. I’ve spent Christmas sleeping on a friend’s couch. I’ve spent Christmas admitted to a private psychiatric treatment program. I have spent Christmas caroling with Mormons, sitting in silence with Quakers, performing at Lessons and Carols with Episcopalians, holding a Yule ritual on my own. I have spent Christmas trying to convince my mother she wasn’t dying and years later watching her on her deathbed. I’ve spent Christmas being snubbed by a boyfriend’s family. I have spent Christmas holding my breath on a perfectly still Christmas evening among the lights of a community park, realizing that every Christmas holds a mystery for the heart to solve.

Day 29 Reflection: Sacred

I looked up sacred and found this definition: dedicated to a religious purpose. Religion is defined as

a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs (BBC, 2014).

In other words, the sacred is set apart from secular (or profane) life through belief in a deity or deities and the worship of those deities. How it is experienced differs from person to person, but there is this sense of specialness, this celebration of mystery, that is held separate from ordinary life.

In these days of “spiritual but not religious”, the definition seems to discount the experience of countless people finding deep, transcendent meaning to their lives and experiences without benefit of organized religion and church services. Some people find experiences in nature as sacred, set apart from the mundane moments of their life. Some find their volunteer work as sacred. Panentheists find the sacred permeating all of their life and do not see a separation of sacred and secular.

Apparently, we need to have the sacred in our lives, a glimpse into the infathomable, the Great Mystery.

BBC (2014). Religions. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/ [April 3, 2019].

Day 13 Reflection: Search

Humanity searches.

The poorest search for sustenance and shelter. The disenfranchised search for justice. The lonely search for love and belongingness.

We all search for meaning in a harsh, capricious world.

It’s hard to live in such a random world, where one’s life can be turned upside down by a natural disaster or a crash of the economy. It’s harder to live in a world where the wicked game the system and come out on top, where structures that disadvantage people by race and social class keep people down.

We all search for something beyond ourselves, for comfort, for meaning. Some find it in a Supreme Being, others find it in nature or music, still others find it in service to higher ideals. Sometimes our attempts to order our world yield injustice, as when we decide that those who are advantaged deserve their status by order of a deity. Sometimes, when we realize that what we thought was natural order are actually the structures of injustice, we make meaning of the need to right wrongs.

We define ourselves as the seekers of the Mystery — followers of the Book, calling ourselves Christian, Jew, or Moslem; Hindu or Buddhist or Zoroastrian; seekers of Truth. No matter how far we travel on our path, the Mystery of life will always be just beyond us, hiding in a random world.

Why I Write (this blog)

When I began writing this blog, I did it because I wanted to muse. Aloud. Like if Juliet in her balcony scene was a vaguely neurotic mystic — “Oh Romeo, have you ever considered that words shape our destiny?” (I would consider casting Felicia Day, perpetual Manic Pixie Dream Girl, in the movie role.)

Then I realized that I wanted to demystify being a writer. For years, I’ve tried to demystify being a professor to my students, because colleges will run out of professors if students think we’re all like the enigmatic and magnificent Dumbledore. It was easy demystifying professorship, because I am neither enigmatic and magnificent. If I am like anyone at Hogwarts, it’s Sybil Trelawney — eccentric, a little unkempt, and seemingly absent-minded. (For my international readers — Harry Potter references).

Writers cultivate a certain amount of mystery, with their specialized language (plot twist, plot bunny, query, Marty Stu, McGuffin), their rituals (coffee, lucky pen, writers’ retreat) and their bizarre actions (killing their darlings, writing their friends into a story, talking about their characters as if they’re real people). There’s really no mystery here if you can see the world through a writers’ eyes. This is what I hope to do in this blog — help you see through the eyes of a writer even if the writer is writing through down times, lack of inspiration, and not enough coffee.

And then maybe I will get published someday, and you can celebrate with me.